# East Boston Cat Called For Jury Duty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777 "2010-01-13T11:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/61 "2010-01-14T16:36:48Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Most likely noise and sheer number of animals for a given living space. Never had to live in an area with such, just came across references over the years. > > ETA: Might also to limit unlicensed/unregulated breeders. My MA town census form wants to know how many dogs we have. Dogs must be licensed in my town. As to why they require dogs to be licensed and not cats, I don’t know the reasons. And we’re supposed to be filling out the town census form every year. If you don’t return your census form they can remove you from the voter rolls. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/62 "2010-01-14T21:40:02Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > My MA town census form wants to know how many dogs we have. Dogs must be licensed in my town. As to why they require dogs to be licensed and not cats, I don’t know the reasons. > > And we’re supposed to be filling out the town census form every year. If you don’t return your census form they can remove you from the voter rolls. Just a guess but… Dogs ‘traditionally’ involve more overhead for public works. There is the dog catcher - who tends to go after dogs who might be a threat if they went feral (alley cats aren’t seen as as much of a threat). Cats are often indoors animals, so the concern about rabies and other “endanger the public health” issues is often less. Dogs poop in parks during walks, requiring clean up crews. My city has you license both dogs and cats and requires rabies certification for both. We are currently debating allowing backyard chickens, which is causing all sorts of people to yell discussing the costs of chickens to the city - would the city need to catch chickens if they got out? Would we license chickens so when they get picked up by animal control they could be returned? (My city is amusingly dysfunctional though). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/63 "2010-01-14T22:03:16Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Would we license chickens… Do they even make collars that small? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/64 "2010-01-15T02:17:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Do they even make collars that small? Birds are typically leg banded. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/65 "2010-01-15T02:59:46Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Birds are typically leg banded. Get out of here with your facts. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/66 "2010-01-15T04:41:51Z")
Maybe the cat is going to be on a _mew_t court duty. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/67 "2010-01-15T08:40:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Dogs ‘traditionally’ involve more overhead for public works. There is the dog catcher - who tends to go after dogs who might be a threat if they went feral (alley cats aren’t seen as as much of a threat). Cats are often indoors animals, so the concern about rabies and other “endanger the public health” issues is often less. Dogs poop in parks during walks, requiring clean up crews. Plus there’s the whole “Are cats really domesticated?” question. Don’t get me wrong, I love cats and three of them live in my house. Or perhaps, three cats allow me to live in THEIR house. Mine are inside kitties, but around here, there are neighborhood cats. They wander in and out of people’s houses, and get fed by several families. Nobody claims exclusive ownership of them, and they seem to be independent agents. I don’t let them into my house, because my cats don’t have fleas, or ticks, or other parasites, and mine are also disease free, and I’d like to keep it that way. This doesn’t keep the neighborhood cats from trying to get into my house. I do have a small shelter set up for them. I’ve talked to my neighbors, and while several of them will say that they feed them, and their kids like the cats, none of them really claim them. The only reason I don’t take the cats to the shelter is because I know it would break the kids’ hearts. But I’m tempted. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/68 "2010-01-15T09:23:21Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Birds are typically leg banded. I was kidding. ow much was that sarcasm punctuation thingy, again? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/69 "2010-01-15T09:27:56Z")
Clearly this is Demo-cat thuggery, Boston-style. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/70 "2010-01-15T09:35:31Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Judge) So what makes you think that you’re not qualified to serve on a jury > > Cat) Well your honor, you see…uhm…well, I’m a cat > > Judge) Motion denied > > 🙂 Holy cow, a talking cat ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/71 "2010-01-15T17:38:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Ummmm. > > Which means by your interpretation, they are trying to call what they think is a dog in for jury duty. So yeah, either way they are wrong. Well of course. Everybody knows that dogs are fair-minded. A cat will just scratch up the jury chair and refuse to listen to the judge’s instructions 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/72 "2010-01-15T19:29:53Z")
Our local city census asks about cats and dogs so I suppose either of my critters could wind up getting called for jury duty. The oldest one is 22, so he would even qualify. (Well, he’s cracked out of his mind, but I’m not sure that would actually disqualify him.) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777/73 "2010-01-15T19:44:15Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Sorry, I was unclear - I meant they don’t get the jury list **solely** from voter registrations. They use several sources. So you can’t duck under the jury radar just by not registering to vote. This was not necessarily the case at all times. Indiana solely used voter registrations until just a few years ago (2003?), and I can imagine some locales _still_ only use them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/east-boston-cat-called-for-jury-duty/524777.md?page=3)